Traveling Solo in Shimane: Part 2

On Day 2, I started out with heading from Izumo (stayed at an internet cafe - cheap but not as good as ones in bigger cities) to Iwami for its famous Silver Mines (UNESCO World Heritate Site apparently).

Iwami

This area is a really tiny town spotted with temples here and there, some hiking trails in the mountains, and the silver mines at the northern end of it. You can rent bicycles from 2 different areas in the town which I opted for.

tiny bakery. good stuff!

another temple!

and then my foot started to hurt

all of the bicycles

I really enjoyed exploring this town and the scenery surrounding it, but unfortunately, my left foot starting hurting really bad midway to the point where I had to stop walking and just turn back. Luckily, I had rented a bicycle so it was easy to get back, but for the rest of the day, I was limping. Not a good way to, more or less, start the 2nd day of my trip!

After Iwami, I headed down to Nima to check out the sand museum. I noticed a small library near the museum and actually spent some time in there sketching and relaxing. I must say that one of the things I love are these wood construction buildings that I've been able to find in the small towns.

the library

the library interior

small stream between the library and the museum

relaxing and resting my foot

i was munching on some bread and admiring this hawk until all of a sudden, i noticed that one, it wasn't in the sky, and two, there was a huge shadow over me. at that point, the hawk had swooped down and tried to take my bread from me. that bastard missed but he scratched me in the process. i then took one more bite from my bread and chucked it for the hawk to take (which he did).

a nice little park with a HUGE slide

the sand museum (view from below)

1 year hour glass

From Nima, I decided to start on my way back and skip the AQUAS aquarium in Hamada. At this point, I was literally limping around with my foot hurting like hell. It was good decision, though, as I ended up making it back to Iizuka really late, even with starting out from Nima at 5PM or so.

goin back home!

i actually forgot that shimane was on the ocean coast

Overall, it was a great trip but I definitely want to head back to Iwami someday and explore it fully, as well as check out other places that I missed.

Again, thanks ojisandake for the information! お世話になっております :)